Monday Briefing from the Balkans: August 4, 2025
Catch up on the weekend’s most important developments with Balkan Insight’s digest of news from countries across the region. Original post Here
Week in Review: Schemes and Interventions
Flashbacks from old habits, past failures, challenges and interventions are what link our selection of Premium stories together this week. Original post Here
Personal Data Misuse Tops Albanian Cybercrime List: Police
Head of cybercrime directorate says computer fraud and related offences – often for the purpose of financial gain – are the main cybercrimes committed in Albania. Original post Here
‘Tragicomic’: Ex-Political Prisoners in Albania Still Awaiting Compensation
More than three decades since communism fell in Albania, only six per cent of former political prisoners or their family members have received the full compensation they are entitled to. Original post Here
EU Keeps IPARD III Frozen Over Corruption and Abuse
Albania, July 29,2025, While Albania’s government continues to project an image of rapid progress toward European Union membership—pledging to have negotiated all accession chapters by 2027—the reality on the ground tells a very different story. A recent reaffirmation by the European Commission that €112 million in IPARD III agricultural development …
Unprotected, Women in Albania, Kosovo Face ‘Toxic Coexistence’ with Digital Abuse
Weak laws and institutional indifference mean women in Albania and Kosovo are largely unprotected against often devastating levels of gender-based digital violence. Original post Here
Albanian Drug Cartel Dismantled in EU Crackdown
Seizure of six tons of cocaine reveals how criminal profits are laundered into Albania’s booming construction sector. TIRANA, July 27, 2025 (Tirana Times) — Albania’s political crisis deepened this week asopposition leader Sali Berisha launched a sweeping series of accusations against PrimeMinister Edi Rama, claiming the May 11 local elections …
Dirty Money Fuels Albania’s Construction Boom
Tirana, Albania – July 28, 2025 A sweeping European-led crackdown on a transnational Albanian drug cartel, culminating in the seizure of six tons of cocaine valued at over €400 million, has reignited concerns that Tirana’s high-rise construction boom is being bankrolled by illicit wealth from organized crime and corruption. The …
Opposition Alleges Vote Rigging via Building Permits
TIRANA, July 27, 2025 (Tirana Times) — Albania’s political crisis deepened this week as opposition leader Sali Berisha launched a sweeping series of accusations against Prime Minister Edi Rama, claiming the May 11 local elections were rigged through an elaborate vote-buying scheme involving 450 illegal construction permits awarded to criminal …
Albania’s New Pyramid: Towers, Dirty Money, and an Emptying NationBy Tirana Times
In 1997, Albania collapsed under the weight of fraudulent pyramid schemes that wiped out people’s life savings and nearly brought the state to its knees. Today, a different kind of pyramid is rising — this time, quite literally. All across Tirana and spreading to other cities and coasts, the country …
TIRANA, December 26, 2025 – Albania’s decade-long construction boom, long portrayed as a sign of growth and urban renewal, is increasingly being scrutinized as a vehicle for laundering illicit capital. A new study by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, combined with years of investigative reporting and analysis by Tirana Times, points …
Tirana Times, 25 December, 2025 – On September 15, 2023, Ergys Agasi, 36, founded a company with a capital of 1 thousand lek (10 euros) with activity in the field of information technology. Under the name EA Solutions, the company had a rapid activity. In the balance sheet filed with …
As artificial intelligence reshapes economic competitiveness and state capacity, indexes like the Government AI Readiness Index serve not merely as technical rankings, but as indicators of national strategic priorities. In this sense, Saudi Arabia has moved decisively from regional ambition toward global relevance, even as the global hierarchy of AI …
Despite political tensions sparked by high-profile corruption cases, Klodjan Braho tells BIRN that his main priority will be to guarantee Albanians that “no one is above the law”. Original post Here
By Tirana Times Tirana, December 23, 2025 – Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defence Olta Xhaçka appeared on Tuesday at the premises of the Special Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime Structure (SPAK), where she remained for approximately two hours before leaving without making any statement to the media. Xhaçka declined to …
Tirana Times, December 22, 2025 – Tirana witnessed a major opposition-led protest on Saturday, as Albania’s main opposition force, the Democratic Party, together with allied groups, demanded the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama and his government. The demonstration was framed not as a routine political rally, but as a …
Supporters of the opposition Democratic Party demonstrated in Tirana against Edi Rama’s government after anti-corruption prosecutors indicted his deputy prime minister and raided officials at the National Information Agency. Original post Here
Security in the Western Balkans is no longer defined only by borders and armies, but by the strength of institutions, public trust and the ability to withstand modern pressure. In an interview with the Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS), Arjan Starova, former Albanian foreign minister and President of the …
Catch up on the weekend’s most important developments with Balkan Insight’s digest of news from countries across the region. Original post Here
Tirana, Tirana Times, 20 December 2025 – The investigation launched by Albania’s Special Anti-Corruption Prosecution has revealed the existence of a structured criminal group operating within the leadership of the National Agency for Information Society, AKSHI. At the center of the case stand the agency’s director and deputy director, accused …